Unequivalent Value
by LAXgirl
Summary: Equivalent Exchange says that something of equal value must be given in order to gain something. But what if there was something so precious it had no equivalent value even with the Philosopher's Stone? ONESHOT


Greetings! This is my first FMA story attempt. I just finished watching the TV series and couldn't get this particular rabid plot bunny out of my head until I finally wrote it out. This story contains slight spoilers for the end of episode 50, so be forewarned. Also, since it's based on the _very_ end of the TV series, I'm not quite sure if everyone else has seen it yet. I'm currently studying abroad in Japan and have no idea what episode the American releases are up to yet. So… yeah…

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Full Metal Alchemist and all related characters are not mine, nor are they being used for profit in the telling of this story. So don't sue me, 'cause I don't have any money!

Unequivalent Value

No… This wasn't happening. This just _couldn't _be happening!

"Brother!"

Al stared in horror at the bloody spike protruding out the back of his brother's body. Ed's face was turned away from him, but the smug look on the Homunculus' face Ed had been fighting said everything.

A gurgled choking sound from Ed cut the silence of the empty opera hall as Envy pushed Ed off of him onto the ground. The transmuted spike of the Homunculus' arm slipped from the frighteningly still alchemist's body.

"Aw, what's the matter, squirt? Didn't like that?" Envy jeered as he stood and transformed his arm back to normal, his arm stained red all the way up to his elbow. Looking down at the boy at his feet, the shape-shifter's face split into a toothy grin. "Poor chibi-ko… I told you it was hard to fight a familiar face. You shouldn't have let your emotions get in the way like that. Especially not for _him_…" -_Him_ being the Elric brothers' estranged father, Hohenheim of the Light - the only person who's face the shape-shifting Homunculus was able to use to make Ed hesitate long enough to attack.

"Brother!" Al yelled, struggling against whatever force was holding him down to the array in the middle of the floor. A large pool of blood was beginning to form under Ed. "_Brother!_"

"It's no use," Dante said, her lips twisting into a wry smirk. "He's already dead…"

"Dead?" Wrath weakly repeated from where he lay several yards away, staring at the limp form at Envy's feet with something akin to horror on his blistered face.

"That's right," Envy laughed. "Humans are such weak creatures! They die. All of them! And they'll keep on dying one by one until one day it's only us Homunculus left!"

"No! Brother!" Al pitifully cried, struggling to go to his brother's side. Ed wasn't dead! They were wrong! What did they know? Ed had survived too much and fought too hard to get to where he was today to be stopped now. Not when they were so close to what they'd spent so many years looking for… "Get up, Brother! Please! Get up!"

But Ed continued to lay there, heedless to his brother's pleads.

"Stop trying to struggle. It won't do you any good," Dante said, coming to the edge of the glowing transmutation circle holding Al captive. "There's nothing you can do for him now."

"No!" Al screamed, struggling with all his might to rise. He heard his armor body creak and groan with the effort, but he forced himself to fight. He had to help Ed…

Clapping his hands together as he would to begin a transmutation, he felt a sudden surge of energy go through him. Looking down, he saw the glowing black marks of the Philosopher's Stone inside him appear and zigzag across his metal skin. He was suddenly able to rise. He had to get to Ed. He couldn't let him die… Not now…

"What are you doing?" Dante screamed, her hands curled into angry fists. "I told you not to use alchemy! You don't know what you're doing! Stop right now!" Stepping forward, she started to lunge at him.

"Don't touch me," Al hissed, halting the body-snatching alchemist in her tracks. "You know what will happen if you do…"

Dante glared at him, defeat etched into very corner of her face. The other Homunculi in the room were silent, staring at Al in wonder as he slowly moved to his brother's body and knelt beside him.

Ed's eyes were open, staring at the ceiling in a frozen look of surprise. For a moment Al couldn't move. All he could do was stare at his older brother.

"He's not dead…" he whispered, his large hands hovering over Ed's suddenly fragile looking body. It was so strange. His older brother had always seemed so strong - like nothing in the world could ever stop him. But now he lay here in a pool of his own blood, refusing to answer his desperate cries.

"He's not dead…" he softly repeated. "He's still warm…" Even to his own ears, he knew how empty his words sounded - how he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else there his brother wasn't really gone.

Al's hands hovered over his brother's broken body. He knew what he had to do. He would use the Philosopher's Stone inside him to bring his brother back. He could do it. As soon as his glowing body touched that of another alchemist, it would immediately activate the Stone inside him. He would go and bring his brother back from beyond the Gate and seal him in his body again. He could do it. He had the Philosopher's Stone now. It was right there inside him. He no longer needed to worry about Equivalent Exchange. Those rules didn't apply anymore now that they had the Stone.

Al pressed his hands to his brother's torn chest, careful not to press too hard in case he might hurt Ed. He wasn't really sure what to expect. Maybe glowing alchemy arrays to suddenly appear in the air around them? A crackling charge of energy as the Philosopher's Stone activated? A terrific bang of some kind before he was transported to another place to find his brother?

But nothing happened.

Al knelt there in the deafening silence of the underground necropolis's opera house, staring at his brother's face for what felt like eternity, unable to comprehend what _wasn't_ happening.

No… This wasn't right! It was suppose to work! They had the Stone!

"Brother?" he cried, pressing his hands a little harder against Ed's chest. "Brother, answer me!"

But Ed's eyes continued to emptily stare at the ceiling; unseeing, empty and lifeless.

"Brother!"

No! This didn't make sense! They had the Stone! It had to work! He should be able to bring his brother back! Why wasn't the Stone reacting to his brother?

"Brother, answer me!"

His hands were now pressing so hard onto his brother's chest, if Ed had been awake, he would have been struggling for breath. But he wasn't. He was just laying there, staring at the ceiling with lifeless gold eyes…

"Brother…" Al whispered, a sob hitching his voice.

For the first time in his soul's transplanted existence, Al felt pain - or at least what he supposed was pain if he could really remember what pain felt like… He felt as though he was being torn apart inside. If dying a thousand deaths could have kept him from experiencing such a pain he would have chosen them without a second thought. Anything was better than this. This pain was something that transcended physical pain. This was a pain that ripped at the very fabric of his soul. Because this pain was caused by something he knew he could never reverse, no matter how many Philosopher's Stones he had.

For a moment, Al could not make himself actually comprehend the horrifying truth he what he now knew:

His brother was dead…

Nothing could bring him back now. He was already beyond the Gate. Nothing could bring him back, not even with the Philosopher's Stone. There were just some things in this world that had no equivalent value. His brother was gone.

A heart wrenching sob rent the silence.

Gently cradling his older brother's head up off the ground, Al pulled Ed into his arms, ignoring the sticky red blood that stained his hands.

"Brother…" he softly whispered, even though he knew Ed could no longer hear him. "I'm sorry…"

Ed's head lolled against Al's chest, his eyes still open but now resting half-closed. Looking down at his brother Al couldn't help but marvel at how peaceful Ed looked, even drenched in his own blood like he was. It was like Ed had finally found the Answer to the Truth he'd so desperately been searching for.

Al felt another sob escape his armor body.

It was strange. He'd spent so long trying to convince himself of his own humanity it had taken the death of his own brother for him to realize he could still feel pain despite his metal body. He was still human no matter what kind of body he had. The pain tearing him apart inside was more than enough proof of that.

If only Ed hadn't had to die for him to realize that…

It was so unfair. They'd worked so hard to find the Philosopher's Stone, and when it in was finally in their grasps, they could no longer use it… There was no equivalent value for a human life. Humans had something in them alchemy could not recreate. What that was, Al still wasn't quite sure, but he wondered if it wasn't the soul. No one could recreate a human soul or pull it back from beyond the Gate once it'd crossed over and been severed from its body. Not even with the Philosopher's Stone…

Al knew he could try and resurrect his brother, but he already knew that would be pointless. He'd already seen what happened when someone tried to bring another human being back through alchemy; and Al had no wish to try and restore his brother only to create a soulless Homunculus with Ed's face. That would almost be more painful than not having his brother at all…

Another sob echoed out from Al's hollow armor. What was he going to do? Ed was gone. There was nothing left. Even if he somehow managed to get his body back with the Stone, what would he really gain from it? His brother would still be dead.

"Brother…"

If he'd been able to in his metal body, Al knew he would have been crying. The pain was almost too much for his to bear.

Clutching his brother's lifeless body closer he suddenly knew what he had to do. After all Ed and he had gone through together over the last four years, Al couldn't bear the thought of going on without his brother now.

Shifting Ed in his arms, Al slowly stood, Ed's dead body cradled against his chest like a tiny baby. "Don't worry, brother," he softly whispered. "We'll see each other soon…"

Clapping his hands together around his sorrowful burden, Al felt a powerful surge of energy course through him. The dark marks crisscrossing his body began to glow red. Large alchemy arrays suddenly appeared in the air around him.

"What are you doing?" Dante yelled. "You can't bring him back! He's already gone! His body and soul are separated!"

"I know," Al whispered, staring at the limp figure in his arms. "But that doesn't mean I can't use the Stone to go to wherever he is."

Dante's eyes widened in sudden comprehension of what Al was about to do. "No!" she screamed, running to the edge of the array that had appeared on the floor beneath the two brothers. "That's _my_ Philosopher's Stone! You can't use it!"

"Yes I can," Al hollowly replied. "You took my brother from me, so I'm going to take something of equal value from you… It's equivalent exchange…"

Dante was furious. But Al couldn't bring himself to care. She couldn't stop him from using the Stone now anyway…

A brilliant white glow was beginning to rise up around him and the still figure in his arms. Al felt a warm tingling sensation go through his armored body.

It was strange, he suddenly thought. He was about to gain something without really losing anything in return. For what was a life restored to his former body if he didn't have his brother to share it with? What did he have to lose if he could be with his brother again, no matter where they were? In a way, it went against the entire concept of Equivalent Exchange. But Equivalent Exchange no longer mattered to him. Just as long as he could see his brother's face again…

The light was beginning to envelope them now. Everything became a brilliant shade of white.

_Wait for me, brother…_ Al's last thoughts were as he felt him and his brother slowly fade away from the physical world_. I'm coming…Wait for me. We'll see each other soon…_

And then, he was gone -gone to another place where he could never to be separated from his brother again…

Fin

Like it? Hate it? This was my first attempt at an FMA story so please tell me what you thought of it!


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